Thursday, January 29, 2009

Heart Shaped French Creme Dessert with Red Berry Sauce is perfect for Valentine's Day

Coeur a la crème, a tasty and impressive heart shaped French cream dessert served with a red berry sauce, is easy to make for Valentine’s Day and can be prepared days in advance. Raspberries or strawberries are the traditional garnishes but chocolate shavings or molded chocolate roses also make a pretty presentation.

Coeur a la crème is made in white porcelain molds with tiny holes in the bottom to allow the excess liquid in the sweetened cheese to run off as it chills. Molds are available in specialty kitchen stores or from Amazon. They come in two sizes, a seven inch that serves six and individual four inch molds. If you don’t have a mold, Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten suggests you make a round coeur in a seven inch sieve lined with cheesecloth and suspend it over a bowl to drain in the refrigerator. James Patterson in Glorious French Food makes individual round coeurs by molding the cheese in cheesecloth lined muffin tins, pulling the cheesecloth up over the tops of each and transferring the wrapped cheese to a cake rack to drain overnight in the refrigerator.

For our coeurs, we followed a recipe from Ina Gartin’s Barefoot in Paris cookbook with raspberry sauce. Ina says the recipe was inspired by friend Anna Pump from her Loaves & Fishes Cookbook. Anna flavored the sauce with Framboise, a French raspberry eau-de-vie, and suggested garnishing the coeur with either fresh hulled strawberries or strawberries dipped in chocolate.

The coeur recipe is simple, includes only six ingredients and is quickly combined in the bowl of an electric mixer. The mixture goes into the heart shaped mold that has been lined with cheese cloth so the excess liquid can drain away. It can sit in the refrigerator for a day or so. To serve, unmold the cream on plate, drizzle with the berry sauce and garnish with fresh berries. Voila, as the French say. It can’t get much easier than that. I suggest sitting close to your valentine and sharing this special dessert with the one you love.

Sam - Just found your great blog. I am blogging from Lake Lure. Coincidently we used to bare boat charter sail boats in the Abacos. Loved Green Turtle Cay and the Conch House ( was that the name of the restarant there?). It's been awhile.

Sara - thanks for the link to Martha Stewart's savory coeur with Parmesan cheese. Do you ever put herbs or anything in it?

Penny - hello Carolina neighbor. Always great to hear from someone who loves Abaco as well. We went to Junkanoo on a special ferry on New Years Day to Green Turtle Cay many years ago. Don't remember the restaurant but their Junkanoo is probably the best in Abaco. Your new kitchen is to die for.

That's so pretty! I've just discovered the joys of Ina through a cookbook I received for Christmas. (Her Family Style cookbook) I used to read her column in Martha and I remember really liking her. This is my first time on your blog. I'm glad to have found you!

I did Ina's Coeur a la Creme earlier this year, but I made my own heart-shaped mold because I'm not fond of the shape the traditional French Porcelain molds make. If you're interested, feel free to visit my post.

I enjoy reading each and every comment. I really appreciate your taking the time to visit my blog and I hope you'll return again soon.

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I'm a retired executive turned writer & food columist. Currently I write a food column, “From My Carolina Kitchen,” for my local newspaper.
I have entered three recipe contests and was a winner in each:
Won the state of Mississippi's Chicken Contest in 1993 and participated in the 40th annual National Chicken Contest, one of the "big three" national competitions. It is the oldest contest of its kind.
I wrote a food column for The Abaconian newspaper when my husband Meakin and I lived in the "Out-Islands" of the northern Bahamas in Abaco on the tiny tropical island of Lubbers Quarters. I am a member of North Carolina Writers Network.

Photography by Meakin Hoffer - Food Styling by Sam Hoffer

Living on Island time, Retirement in Abaco Spiced with Food, Friends & Rum, by Sam Hoffer

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